Convertible electric conductor



April 18, 1939. F. PHILLIPS 2,155,060

CONVERTIBLE ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR Fild Dec. 10, 1936 VITNESSES 'INVENTORliz oneb E P/zllLLi/as RNEYs ATTO Patented Apr. 18, 1939 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to an electric conductor which may be used eitherin the form of a cord or a flat ribbon or band, as conditions maydictate.

The primary object of the invention is to produce a flexible electricconductor for lamps, etc., which may present the appearance of theconventional cord and at the same time be capable of being transformedand used as a flat ribbon conductor, or in which portions of the sameconductor may be used in cord form and other portions in flat or ribbonform, thus permitting the conductor to be used to cross exposed floorsurfaces where the cord form would be a potential menace to unwary feet.It also permits of passing the conductor under rugs and carpets withoutcausing undue wear to the rug while at the same time by its ribbon formmakes the presence of the conductor beneath the rug or carpetunnoticeable.

By gumming one surface of the ribbon, it can be wound about a centralflexible core, preferably a heavy or light cord. Upon being unwound thegummed surface makes it possible to attach the ribbon to the flatsurface to be traversed. The central core is cut away to make the ribbonlie fiat to the surface.

The advantage of this is that the core portion can be used where theribbon portion is not needed, and can be easily converted into theribbon form for a portion of its length.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction and combinations and arrangements ofparts, all of which will be more fully hereinafter described and pointedout in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view, partly in section,illustrating the flat ribbon which constitutes a portion of my improvedconvertible electrical conducting cord;

Fig. 2 is an exaggerated view in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation illustrating the manner of spirallywinding the flat ribbon around the core; I

Fig. 4 is an exaggerated view in transverse section on the line 4-4 ofFig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a broken view in elevation illustrating how the cord can beunwound to present a flat portion intermediate the cord portions;

Fig. 6 is a broken view in elevation on a reduced scale, showing how theribbon can be partially unwound and the extremities of the core used asterminal connections.

My invention includes a fiat ribbon ID in which electric conductors Hare located and insulated from each other. It is to be understood thatthe ribbon is extremely thin and flat, and that the exact constructionof the same may be widely varied. I have shown one form of my invention,which is merely illustrative of the general idea, and in the particularform illustrated the electric conductors H consist of groups of smallwires located side by side and of any desired number. These wires IIhave located on opposite sides thereof, strips of paper l2 with suitableadhesive on their surfaces adjacent the wires to hold the wires againstmovement. These electric conductors with their covering strips I! arethen enclosed in a covering of rubber or other suitable insulation l3.[4 represents a flexible core, which may constitute a cord of anysuitable material and size, around which the ribbon i0 is spirallywound, as shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 4 of the 20 drawing. The innersurface of the ribbon I0 is provided with an adhesive, preferably asuitable gum, so that when spirally wound around the core M, the ribbonwill be retained thereon and the conductors will have the generalcircular appearance in cross section of any ordinary cord.

When, however, it is desired to utilize any part or the whole of thecord as a flat conductor, it is simply necessary to unwind the ribbon IDfrom the core l4 and cut off the portion of the core which has beenexposed. This flat portion of the conductor can then lie against thesurface over which it is laid and its adhesive or gum will hold itagainst accidental movement on the surface.

It is, of course, to be understood that when the cord is in use, theends of the covering may be scraped to expose the wires, as shown mostclearly in Fig. 6 of the drawing, and the two sets of conductors can bereadily separated for attach- 4o ment to terminals.

While I have throughout the specification referred to the ribbon asbeing spirally wound on the core, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to this particular manner of winding as it isobvious that the ribbon may be removably affixed to the core in anymanner desired.

While I have illustrated and described what I believe to be a preferredembodiment of my invention, it is obvious that various slight changesmay be made with regard to the form and arrangement of parts withoutdeparting from the invention, and hence I do not limit myself to theprecise details set forth but consider myself at liberty to make suchchanges and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope ofthe claims.

I claim:

1. A convertible electrical conducting cord including two sets of Wireslocated side by side, strips secured above and below each conductor, acovering of insulating material embedding all of the strips and wires,and a flexible core, said covering being spirally wound around the core,and an adhesive for removably securing said covering in a spiralformation to said core, said covering being bodily demountable andunwindable from any portion of said core whereby any portion may be usedas a fiat electric cord.

2. An electrical conducting cord comprising a cord body formed of a pairof parallel electric conductors spaced apart and a flat flexibleinsulating material embedding said conductors and holding them in spacedparallelism, a flexible core of the same length as said cord body, saidcord body being spirally wound around the core for the full length ofthe core, and an adhesive on the inner face of said cord bodyfunctioning to normally hold the cord body in spiral formation on saidcore while allowing any portion of the cord body to be unwound from thecore and used flat.

3. An electrical conducting cord comprising a flexible core extendingthe full length of the cord and a cord body wrapped spirally around saidcore and removably afiixed thereto for the full length of the core, saidcord body being formed with a pair of spaced parallel conductors and aflat piece of insulating material embedding said conductors and holdingthe conductors in their spaced relation.

LIONEL F. PHILLIPS.

